Why celebrity young men such as Prince William of England, or young leading politician Rahul Gandhi of India, decide to spend a night at a place where the “poorest of the poor” in society spend their entire lives? Publicity? However, such symbolic acts do catapult homelessness, poverty, mental illness, drug and alcohol dependency, family breakdown, and other social issues into limelight in the celebrity-oriented media.
The Hindustan Times stated: “Rahul Gandhi may spend night in Dalit (“untouchables”) home again. The Congress MP will go straight to Ghisauli village in the backward Bundelkhand region. He is to attend a programme organised by a local NGO. Details of his programme were being kept secret for security reasons.”
More here…
Similarly, The Times of London reports: “As a child Prince William was taken by his mother on a secret visit to see the homeless in a Centrepoint shelter, an experience that led to his becoming the charity’s patron a decade later. Now he has extended that commitment by spending a night sleeping rough in sub-zero temperatures on the streets of London.
“The Prince bedded down in an old sleeping bag in a doorway in the City of London, with no more than cardboard boxes to ease his discomfort.
“ ‘I think he got a couple of hours’ sleep,’ said a spokesman for the Prince, who was accompanied by the charity’s chief executive, Seyi Obakin, and his private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton. ‘They were all absolutely frozen by the morning’.” More here…
To meet the challenges thrown by several social issues in both the so-called developed and developing nations, the better off people need to get a first-hand experience of what it means to be on “the other side of the fence”.
I am reminded of Norman Ernest Borlaug (March 25, 1914 – September 12, 2009), an American agronomist, humanitarian, and Nobel laureate, who is considered father of the Green Revolution in India and elsewhere. He once said that poverty can be removed from India in a short time. How? Borlaugh’s short reply was: “Only if the ministers, politicians, and rich people go without food for three days!”
A good thought while enjoying this festive spirit…
(Photo top courtesy AP: Prince William – right)
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.